ThePARI Journal

A quarterly publication of the Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute

Volume XII, No. 2, Fall 2011

A New La Corona Panel

In This Issue:
ERIK BOOT
Independent Researcher
A New La Corona
Panel The subject of this short note is a small the panel. The panel was delivered to the
by
panel (measurements: 39 x 44 x 7.6 cms, or Gautemalan Consulate in San Francisco
Erik Boot 15½ x 17½ x 3 inches), which until recently on July 28, 2011.
was part of a private collection in San The panel is made of a light brown
PAGES 1-7
Francisco, California (Figure 1). The panel limestone, reminiscent of the many panels
• has been returned to the Guatemala au- now known to come from the archaeologi-
The Murals of San thorities. On May 30, 2011, the Ministerio cal site of La Corona, Guatemala (Schuster
Bartolo: A Window de Cultura y Deportes, Dirección General 1997). A large number of panels, generally
into the Art and del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural, designated to belong to Site Q (Canuto
Cosmovision of Registro de Bienes Culturales issued the and Barrientos, eds. 2009:21-45; Mathews
Precolumbian Man Dictamen No. 06-2011/PH registering 1997; Martin and Stuart 2009:8-31), in both
by
Mónica Urquizú B
A
and
Heather Hurst
PAGES 8-13

•
Morley’s Diary:
April 26 1
PAGES 14-16

Joel Skidmore
Editor
joel@mesoweb.com

Marc Zender 2
Associate Editor
marc@mesoweb.com

The PARI Journal

202 Edgewood Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-664-8889
journal@mesoweb.com

Electronic version 3
available at:
www.mesoweb.com/
pari/journal/1202

ISSN 1531-5398

Figure 1.The new La Corona panel (all photographs by Michel Quenon unless otherwise noted).

PARI Journal 12(2), 2011, pp. 1-7. 1

 Boot

private and public collections, have their origin at La

Corona (Anonymous 2005, 2006; Canuto and Barrientos
2009, 2011a; Canuto and Barrientos, eds. 2009, 2010;
Graham 1997; Guenter 2005; Martin 2008; SMU 2005;
Witze 2005). The panel probably was part of a series
of panels (perhaps part of a fourth or even fifth hiero-
glyphic stairway; see below) providing a continuous
text. In this preliminary note the hieroglyphic text on
this panel will be discussed in some detail.

Figure 3. Block B1: u-PAT-bu-ji u-xu?[lu]/u-[lu]xu?.

The Calendar Round is followed by upatbuji, which

at present I interpret as a transitive verbal expression u-
pat-bu-ji with the meaning “he forms/fashions it” (com-
pare Stuart, Houston, and Robertson 1999:II-32) (Figure
3). Alternatively, but less likely, it is a nominalized
antipassive, based on the root pat- “to form, fashion,”
-bu “antipassive suffix,” -[e]j “nominalizing suffix,” -i[l]
“possessive suffix,” and u- “third person possessive
Figure 2. Block A1 of the inscription: 8 Ajaw 18 Yax.
pronoun” (see Boot 2009). Thus upatbuji[l] would mean
something like “his formed/fashioned thing (is).”
Epigraphic Analysis
The panel contains six glyph blocks, arranged into
two columns. Probably this panel was part of a multi-
panel text; as such the designation of the glyph blocks
is preliminary and each letter-number combination is
preceded by “p(reliminary)”:1

pA1a 8?-DAY.SIGN.AJAW waxak ajaaw

pA1b 18-MONTH.YAX waxaklajuun yaxsijo’m
pB1a u-PAT-bu-ji upatbuji
pB1b u-xu?[lu]/u-[lu]xu? uxul(?)
pA2a [K’AN]TUN-ni k’ahntuun
pA2b SAK-NIK-*TE’ saknikte’
pB2a u-*KAB-[ji]ya ukabjiiy
pB2b ?-yo-OK ... yook
pA3a 8-HAB-ya waxak haab[i]y
pA3b ?-?-ya?-?-ma? ...
pB3a i-GOD.N-yi i-t’ab[a]y(?) Figure 4. Block A2: [K’AN]TUN-ni SAK-NIK-*TE’.
pB3b 5-EB?-? ho’ ehb(?)
The upatbuji expression is followed by the name of the
The new La Corona panel opens with a Calendar Round
object that was fashioned: uxul k’ahntuun (Figure 4). On
date, which probably was 8 Ajaw 18 Yax (Figure 2).
rare occasions Maya hieroglyphic texts refer to the uxul
Although part of the opening numeral for the day co-
k’ahntuun (e.g., Tonina M. 95), in which uxul (from *ul-xul,
efficient is broken off, this most probably contained an
Barbara MacLeod, personal communication, October 23,
additional dot, making a coefficient of 8. There is no indi-
2010) refers to the “carving,” while k’ahntuun refers to
cation that any of the dots served as a filler. The position
either “precious (k’an) stone (tuun)” or, more probably,
of this date in the Long Count will be discussed below.
“extended surface or bench (k’ahn) stone (tuun)” (Boot
2009:109). Hieroglyphic texts at Palenque and Pomona
1
Complex vowels employed in this note are derived from refer to a k’ahntuun that may have been part of a bench
historical linguistic processes, not from spelling principles. These or throne assemblage (e.g., Palenque Tablet of the 96
reconstructions are tentative and subject to revision. Glyphs; Pomona Tablet of the 96 Glyphs). The k’ahntuun

2
A New La Corona Panel

a
b c

d
Figure 5. K’ahntuun in Maya hiero-
glyphic texts: (a) Toniná Monument 95, yuxul
k’ahntuunil (drawing by Peter Mathews); (b)
Palenque, Tablet of the 96 Glyphs, yuxul[i]
j k’ahntuun (drawing by Simon Martin);
(c) Pomoná, Tablet of the 96 Glyphs, -ji
k’ahntuun, (drawing by Marc Zender); (d)
Emiliano Zapata Panel, i-uxul[i]j k’ahntuun
(drawings by David Stuart); (e) Dos Pilas,
Hieroglyphic Stairway 4, Step II, k’ahntuun
ehb (drawing by Stephen Houston); (f) Copan,
Ballcourt II-b, Center Marker, k’ahntuun
(drawing by Marc Zender). e f

depicted on the Emiliano Zapata panel (see Stuart 1990)

is in the process of being carved, and perhaps served as
a seat, or a support for one. Other k’ahntuun are found on
Dos Pilas Hieroglyphic Stairway 4 and Copan Ballcourt
II-b Center Marker (Figure 5). Directly following this
statement one can find the collocation SAK-NIK-*TE’ .
The collocation surely refers to Saknikte’, the proper
toponym of La Corona (Canuto and Barrientos 2011a;
Stuart and Houston 1994:39). The “fashioning” of the
uxul k’ahntuun thus took place at Saknikte’; the whole
phrase may actually state that it is the uxul k’ahntuun
of Saknikte’ itself that was fashioned. The TE’ sign is
almost completely eroded, but note the oval part with
inner circle on the left side of the eroded sign, and the
composition of the collocation clearly hints at the former
presence of this sign. Apart from its erosion, the colloca- Figure 6. Block B2: u-*KAB-[ji]ya ?-yo-OK.
tion provides suggestive evidence that the panel came
from La Corona, and that its hieroglyphic text refers to The text continues with the statement ukabjiiy (or
local affairs. possibly uchabjiiy, as there is no preposed syllabic

3

complement to indicate kab-), “he supervised it,” fol-
lowed by the nominal phrase [?] yook (Figure 6). This
is the name of a local person at La Corona, and several
other texts from La Corona refer to a local ruler who car-
ries the same name (Figure 9). The sign here transcribed
as [?] looks like the sign for je, but is probably a different
sign, or part of a complex sign partially hidden by the
yo-OK spelling.2
Figure 7. Block A3: 8-HAB-ya ?-?-ya?-?-ma?.
The next collocation opens with 8 haab, probably a
Distance Number indicating a new date, as also sug-
gested by the postfixed -ya (cf. La Corona Panel 3:F1)
(Figure 7). The hieroglyphic signs after the 8 haab are too
eroded to venture any reading, but it does not seem to
have included a new Calendar Round.
Figure 8. Block B3: i-GOD.N-yi 5-EB?-?.
The last collocation opens with a verbal expression,
in which the GOD.N main sign is employed (Figure 8).
This sign targets a dedicatory verb, which may have been
t’abay (Stuart 1998:417), though the reading remains un-
certain. The whole verbal expression tentatively reads
i-t’abay, “so dedicated (was).” The progressive particle
4
Boot
i- supports the presence of a Distance Number at pA3a.
The very last part of this short text opens with the num-
ber five (ho’), placed above a possible sign EB (Figure
10). This sign is largely eroded, and still more eroded is
a potential third sign below it, perhaps a full form of the
syllable bu, serving as a phonetic complement to EB.
Alternatively, I should point out that the main sign may
not be EB at all, but rather the T685 “pyramid” sign (see
Stone and Zender 2011:105). This sign typically shows
two or three platforms bisected by a central staircase.
Further, it is known to be combined with the number
five in a number of other inscriptions (e.g., Palenque’s
Tablet of the 96 Glyphs: A3). Unfortunately, the “pyra-
mid” sign remains undeciphered. I will return to a
discussion of the final collocation in my closing remarks
below.
The Opening Date
The carving style of the monument hints at a period
circa ad 550-700. Small drilling holes for serial dots ap-
pear at pA1a, pB1a, pA2a, pB2b; these also are used on
Panel 1 and H.S. 3, Block III. The drilled dots are most
reminiscent of the style of two unprovenanced lintels.
These lintels are dated to 9.3.3.16.4, *2 K’an 2 Mak
(December 3, ad 498) (Mayer 1984: Plates 26-27) and
9.3.19.3.8, 7 Lamat 11 K’ank’in (December 28, ad 513)
(Mayer 1980: Plates 39-40). These lintels in style and
sculptural execution are clearly earlier than the new La
Corona panel, and as such I tentatively assign the new
La Corona panel to the period circa ad 550-700. The
opening Calendar Round may thus be contemporary
with this time period. A Calendar Round of 8 Ajaw 18
Yax can be found at these Long Count positions:
9.7.0.15.0 8 Ajaw 18 Yax October 1, ad 574
9.9.13.10.0 8 Ajaw 18 Yax September 18, ad 626
9.12.6.5.0 8 Ajaw 18 Yax September 5, ad 678
Considering the Distance Number recorded as 8 haab,
the later dates would be:
9.7.8.15.0 2 Ajaw 18 Mol August 20, ad 582
9.10.1.10.0 2 Ajaw 18 Mol August 7, ad 634
9.12.14.5.0 2 Ajaw 18 Mol July 25, ad 686
However, with no definitive temporal anchor present in
this new La Corona hieroglyphic text, it is difficult to set
2
There are other names in hieroglyphic texts containing the je-
like sign. A similar composition is present in the birth name of the
Palenque sajal Chak Suutz’ (or Sootz’). His birth name is recorded
on the Tablet of the Slaves at position A4b with the je-like sign
above a bat head. As such, the configuration of the name glyph is
the same as the La Corona example (je-like sign above a dog head).
Like the La Corona name, this Palenque nominal phrase still resists
analysis.
A New La Corona Panel

a b c

d
e

Figure 9. Nominal phrases

with [?] Yook at La Corona:
(a) La Corona Panel 2;
(b) La Corona Panel 3; (c)
La Corona Hieroglyphic
Stairway 3, Block II; (d)
La Corona, Hieroglyphic
Stairway 3, Block V; (e)
La Corona, Hieroglyphic
Stairway 3, Block VIII; (f)
La Corona Panel 1; (g) La
Corona Panel 1. All drawings
by the author; photographs f
b, d-e by Justin Kerr, f-g by g
the author)

a Long Count date. do not match, while consecutive Calendar Rounds

A comparison to a list of recorded dates within
the presently known La Corona corpus shows that
the two dates on the new La Corona panel were not
registered previously. At present I favor a placement of
ad 678-686.
(arrived at through Distance Numbers) record impos-
sible combinations. If the opening Long Count on this
panel is correct, the 9.9.2.0.9, 3 Lamat *1 Sotz’ (11 Sotz’
is written) date targets a date in ad 615. Some 25 years
later K’inich Yook is born. This individual acceded in
ad 675, as recorded on La Corona Panel 1. The currently

The Nominal Phrase [?] Yook
The nominal phrase [?] Yook (hereafter just Yook) occurs
various times in the corpus of La Corona, as illustrated
by select examples in Figure 9. The name appears in two
forms, one prefixed by K’inich and the other without,
yet both nominals probably refer to one and the same
individual.
The Yook nominal on the new La Corona panel
is written with the DOG sign for OK much like the
example on La Corona Panel 1 (Figure 9f,g) and Panel
3 (Figure 9b). La Corona Panel 3 has a calendrical con-
struction in which Long Count and Calendar Round
last known date associated with K’inich Yook falls in ad
691 and is recorded on La Corona Stela 1 (Canuto et al.
2009:26). This “life time” range of dates provides further
suggestive evidence for placing the new panel at ad 678-
686. Other ranges would be 52 years earlier or later and
would thus be far removed from the presently attested
dates of K’inich Yook.
It is known that the nominal phrases of kings can be
abbreviated—e.g., K’ahk’ Upakal as an abbreviation of
K’ahk’ Upakal K’inich K’awiil at Chichen Itza; K’ahk’
[Y]ohl as an abbreviation of K’ahk’ [Y]ohl K’inich, king
of Yootz (see also Grube 2004:208 for the typically abbre-
viated name of “Aj Wosal Chan K’inich”)—which may

5

Figure 10. Three images of the final collocation taken with different lighting.
explain why both Yook and K’inich Yook are employed
to refer to one and the same individual.3 Different sculp-
tural and scribal schools executed the inscriptions in
which (K’inich) Yook is mentioned.
The Yook mentioned on the new panel may be the
same (K’inich) Yook mentioned on a great number of
monuments previously known from La Corona. If so,
the only dates that would fit with his attested dates are:
9.12.6.5.0 8 Ajaw 18 Yax September 5, ad 678
9.12.14.5.0 2 Ajaw 18 Mol July 25, ad 686
Alternatively, the Yook mentioned on the new panel re-
fers to a yet unknown and earlier ruler of the same name
who ruled circa ad 570-600. I consider this alternative less
likely, but if so, the following dates would be correct:
9.7.0.15.0 8 Ajaw 18 Yax October 1, ad 574
9.7.8.15.0 2 Ajaw 18 Mol August 20, ad 582
Five Hieroglyphic Stairs at La Corona?
If my tentative identification of an EB-bu spelling in the
final glyph block on the new La Corona panel is correct,
3
Colas (2003:281) argues that “[t]he prefixed name of the sun
god K’inich reflects an association of divine kingship and the sun”
while “[t]he postfixed K’inich refers rigidly to the king’s self.” I am
still hesitant in applying Colas’s hypothesis in this and other cases,
my reason being that abbreviations abound when it comes to the
registration of the name of kings. For instance, the king commonly
registered as K’inich Janaab Pakal is recorded in one example as
Yajawte’ K’inich Janaab Pakal (Palenque, Temple XXI Bench). The
initial K’inich of many kingly names may thus be an abbreviation
of a particular manifestation of the solar deity, Yajawte’ K’inich (see
Boot 2009:206, note 288 and Boot 2011).
6
Boot
it may provide a reference to the dedication of ho’ ehb,
or “five steps, stairs, or stairways.” This would in turn
suggest that five hieroglyphic stairs or stairways were
once present at the archaeological site of La Corona.
Three hieroglyphic stairways have thus far been identi-
fied at La Corona (see Barrientos et al. 2011; Canuto and
Barrientos 2011a; Canuto and Barrientos, eds. 2009, 2010)
at Structures 13Q-3 (H.S. 1, presence confirmed), 13R-10
(H.S. 2, presence confirmed), and 13Q-4 (H.S. 3, presence
hypothetical). Recently, new blocks of Hieroglyphic
Stairway 2 were found in situ during the 2011 season
(Canuto and Barrientos 2011b). The new panel, as it is
executed in a different style and with a different textual
organization when compared to these stairway texts,
may have belonged to still one more stairway (one of
two stairways remaining to be found, if this hypothesis
bears out). Alternatively, the final passage may refer to
a “five pyramid(?)” structure (or structures), of a kind
known from a few other sites.
Acknowledgments
I thank Michel Quenon for directing my attention to this
panel and for his kind provision of the photographs on
which this preliminary epigraphic analysis is based. I
also thank Christophe Helmke and Barbara MacLeod
for comments on earlier drafts of this note. Additionally
I thank two other reviewers, who want to remain anony-
mous, of earlier versions of this note and who provided
photographs and drawings of several La Corona monu-
ments. Unless otherwise stated, the opinions expressed
in this note are mine.
A New La Corona Panel
References
Anonymous
2005 Long-Sought Maya City Site Q-Found in Guatemala. Yale
Environmental News 11(1):4.
2006 Conversations: Site Q Discovered! Archaeology 59(1):14.
Available: www.archaeology.org/0601/etc/conversations.html.
Barrientos Q., Tomás, Marcello A. Canuto, and Mary Jane Acuña
2011 Proyecto Arqueológico La Corona: Informe final,
temporada 2010. Report submitted to the Dirección
General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural de Guatemala,
Guatemala City. Available: mari.tulane.edu/PRALC/.
Boot, Erik
2009 The Updated Preliminary Classic Maya-English,
English-Classic Maya Vocabulary of Hieroglyphic
Readings. Mesoweb: www.mesoweb.com/resources/boot/
vocabulary.html.
2011 An Alternative Interpretation of K’inich. Unpublished
manuscript.
Canuto, Marcello A., and Tomás Barrientos Q.
2009 Proyecto Regional Arqueológico La Corona: Objetivos
generales y resultados preliminares de las investigaciones
en el Sitio Q. In XXII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas
en Guatemala, 2008, edited by Juan Pedro Laporte, Bárbara
Arroyo, and Héctor E. Mejía, v. 1, pp. 687-707. Guatemala:
Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes; Instituto de Antropología
e Historia; Asociación Tikal.
2011a La Corona: Un acercamiento a las politicas del reino Kaan
desde un centro secundario del noreste del Peten. Estudios
de Cultura Maya 37: 11-43. Mexico.
2011b La Corona and Lowland Maya Political Organization:
The Case for Ancient Debates. Paper presented at the
symposium “Sociétés mayas millénaires: Crises du passé et
résilience,” July 1-2, 2011, Musée du quai Branly, Paris.
Canuto, Marcello A., and Tomás Barrientos Q., eds.
2009 Proyecto Arqueológico La Corona: Informe final,
temporada 2008. Report submitted to the Dirección
General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural de Guatemala,
Guatemala City. Available: mari.tulane.edu/PRLAC/.
2010 Proyecto Arqueológico La Corona: Informe final,
temporada 2009. Report submitted to the Dirección
General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural de Guatemala,
Guatemala City. Available: mari.tulane.edu/PRLAC/.
Canuto, Marcello, David Stuart, Stanley Guenter, and Tomás
Barrientos
2009 Monumentos de La Corona: Reclasificación del catálogo
de monumentos. In Proyecto Arqueológico La Corona: Informe
final, temporada 2008, edited by Marcello A. Canuto and
Tomás Barrientos Q. Report submitted to the Dirección
General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural de Guatemala,
Guatemala City.
Colas, Pierre-Robert
2003 K’inich and King: Naming Self and Person among Classic
Maya Rulers. Ancient Mesoamerica 14(2):269-283.
Graham, Ian
1997 Mission to La Corona. Archaeology 50(5):46. Available:
www.archaeology.org/9709/etc/la.corona.html.
Grube, Nikolai
2004 La Historia Dinástica de Naranjo, Petén. Beiträge zur
Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie 24:195-213.
Mainz am Rhein.
Guenter, Stanley
2005 La Corona Find Sheds Light on Site Q Mystery. Mesoweb:
www.mesoweb.com/reports/SiteQ.html.
Martin, Simon
2008 Wives and Daughters on the Dallas Altar. Mesoweb: www.
mesoweb.com/articles/boot/Wives&Daughters.pdf.
Martin, Simon, and David Stuart
2009 The Snake Kingdom: History and Politics at Calakmul and
Related Royal Courts. Sourcebook for the 2009 Maya Meetings
and Symposium. Austin: University of Texas at Austin.
Mathews, Peter
1997 Site Q Sculptures. Archaeology Magazine Online Features:
www.archaeology.org/online/features/siteq/index.html.
Mayer, Karl-Herbert
1980 Maya Monuments: Sculptures of Unknown Provenance in the
United States. Ramona, California: Acoma Books.
1984 Maya Monuments: Sculptures of Unknown Provenance in
Middle America. Berlin: Verlag Karl-Friedrich Von Flemming.
Schuster, Angela M. H.
1997 The Search for Site Q. Archaeology 50(5):42-45. Available:
www.archaeology.org/9709/etc/siteq.html.
SMU
2005 Long Sought Maya City — Site Q — Found in Guatemala.
SMU News and Communications: smu.edu/newsinfo/
stories/maya-discovery-27sept2005.asp.
Stone, Andrea, and Marc Zender
2011 Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Maya
Painting and Sculpture. London: Thames and Hudson.
Stuart, David
1990 A New Carved Panel from the Palenque Area. Research
Reports on Ancient Maya Writing 32:9-14. Washington, D.C.:
Center for Maya Research.
1998 “The Fire Enters His House”: Architecture and Ritual in
Classic Maya Texts. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya
Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 373-425.
Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks.
Stuart, David, and Stephen Houston
1994 Classic Maya Place Names. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and
Archaeology 33. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks.
Stuart, David, Stephen Houston, and John Robertson
1999 Recovering the Past: Classic Mayan Language. In The
XXIIIrd Linda Schele Forum On Maya Hieroglyphic Writing,
March 13-14, 1999, section II, pp. 1-39. Austin: University of
Texas at Austin.
Witze, Alexandra
2005 Q Marks the Spot as Ancient Sculptures Yield their Origins.
Nature 437(7060):797. (October 6, 2005.)